Charlie Seaver - 1934

"He loved golf, he loved everybody, and they
loved him. He was one of a kind."

Charles Seaver was one of the outstanding amateurs in California golf history. While at Stanford, he won the California Amateur and Northern
California Golf Association Amateur titles in 1933. Seaver then won the Southern California Golf Association Amateur title in 1934, becoming
only the second golfer to hold the California, NCGA and SCGA titles at the same time. He previously won the NCGA Amateur title in 1932.

Seaver was born in Kansas City in 1911, moving to Los Angeles with his family in 1912. In 1926, at the age of 15, he won the Southern California
Junior Amateur Championship and the Los Angeles Country Club Invitational. Seaver entered Stanford in 1931, where he played football as well as golf.
He was a golf letter winner in 1933 and 1934, and played on the golf team with Lawson Little. In 1931, Seaver and Little were finalists in the inaugural
Stanford University Championship, won by Little on the 36th hole. Seaver bested Little the following year, winning the final match on the 37th hole.

Seaver was a member of the 1932 American Walker Cup team. The U.S. won the Cup 8-1, and Seaver won his two matches, one in singles and one in foursomes.
He also qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championships each year from 1929 through 1932, and was the medalist in 1931. But perhaps his most remembered
match in the U.S. amateur was his one down loss to Gene Homans at the 1930 semifinals at Merion Cricket Club. Homans went on to lose the finals to Bobby Jones,
who completed his "Grand Slam" and become the only player ever to win the U.S. and British Amateur and Open titles in the same year. Seaver later said,
"I got to play Bobby Jones three times, but not the most important time."

After Stanford, Seaver moved to Fresno, California in 1939. He worked for many years in the California food industry, and at his suggestion,
raisins were first added to breakfast cereals. While in Fresno, Seaver won the Fresno City Amateur Championship six times, winning four consecutive
titles from 1945 through 1948, and again in 1950 and 1954. In 1949, he started what would extend to 39 consecutive appearances in the Bing Crosby
(now AT & T) National Pro-Am tournament. Teaming with professional Mike Fetchik (winner of the Western Open) in 1964, Seaver won the pro/am division
by one stroke over Tony Lema and John Durkin. Seaver served on the Board of Directors of the NCGA and he was elected its president in 1980.

Despite his success and fame as an amateur golfer, Seaver did not look down on the average golfer. The golf director at his Fresno golf club
noted that Seaver would play with high as well as low handicappers and was friendly with everyone. "He loved golf, he loved everybody, and they
loved him. He was one of a kind." The Seaver Golf Academy was established in his name. In 1997, a biennial series of matches between teams from the NCGA and the SCGA was established and,
in honor of Seaver's legendary accomplishments as an amateur and his love of the game, it was named the Seaver Cup.
Seaver died in Pebble Beach, California in October 2004. He is a charter member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame and is the father
of major league baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver. Written by Rich Peers, Stanford member, Oct 2007.